Library catalogue

This case study focuses on the working elements of cultural interventions to increase the well-being of elderly, ill, and displaced persons (refugees with residence permits) in The Netherlands. Usually, these interventions result from collaborations in the cultural domain with social and care institutions. Most cultural interventions are initiated by cultural organizations and executed by professionals and volunteers working for these cultural organizations. The implementation usually occurs at involved care facilities, refugee shelters (“AZCs”), or social centers.

The Elefsina Manifesto was published during the Beyond the Obvious 2023 Conference and is an envisioning of a Culture of Care. It serves as a rallying call to artists, cultural organisations and professionals to embrace politics and ethics of care as a fundamental element of the collective work. By putting care at the core of practices, well-being is being promoted and a more just and equitable world is created.

MESOC (Measuring the Social Dimension of Culture) is a European project that focused on the measurement of the societal value and impacts of cultural policies and practices. MESOC responded to the need to recognise how much culture matters to European societies, going beyond its economic impact, which often prevails in public discourses. It highlighted the fact that culture also matters in terms of health and well-being, people’s engagement and participation, and urban and territorial renovation. The handbook presents information, reflections and guidance to allow cultural operators, policymakers, managers of public and private funding programmes and strategies, researchers, trainers and students to better connect cultural activities with social impact.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus was not ‘just’ a public health event. It was a ‘meta-crisis’ (Frosh & Georgiou 2022), interacting with – and making newly visible – a range of pre-existing economic, social, political, and environmental crises. Also, the effects of the pandeminc continue to unfold. It has many ongoing implications, including for the cultural life of cities: raising challenges and opportunities for urban communities, for policymakers, and for many within cultural and creative ecosystems. This report addressed three questions: 1. How did city cultural policymakers respond to COVID-19 in support of culture? 2. What was the role of the World Cities Culture Forum? 3. What are the implications of these cultural policy responses for post-COVID urban futures?

Although the idea of a collective audience for art - an 'art public' - is highly significant in the art world, this is the first book to enquire into the actual history of the art public. The book explores both written and pictorial evidence of its behaviour, and disentangles the connections between art production, the expectations of the audience and a work's reception. Two aspects shape the narrative: first, the transformation of the audience from passive recipient to active agent; and second, the mockery of the audience by satirists such as George Cruikshank, Thomas Rowlandson, Honore Daumier and many others.

The cultural and creative sector is a booming economy, with huge challenges and unlimited opportunities. Private grant-making foundations are key supporters and donors. With crises everywhere, shifting demographics, diverse requirements, and complex ecosystems, how will their collaboration evolve? Contributing to the research work in the field of creative economies of the Zurich Centre for Creative Economies, this study discusses how private grant-making foundations engage with the actors of the cultural and creative sector.